Bedlam

A Novel

1797. James Matthews returns to England from a French jail, and is sent to Bedlam, the hospital for the mad, for reasons both medical and political. Matthews, who worked as a tea broker, wanted to stave off war between the French and English through his contacts with French revolutionaries and their British sympathizers. Though he is delusional and paranoid, both his wife and doctor try to determine why James remains in Bedlam for years though he appears harmless.